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Streep – who is taking on her first major TV role in more than 15 years — signed on to Season 2 last year as Kidman’s mother-in-law who comes to stay with her family following the death of her son.
The role came about, basically, because she was such a fan of the series, which also stars Reese Witherspoon, Laura Dern, Shailene Woodley and Zoe Kravitz.
“Big Little Lies” is set to return on HBO in June.
BEIRUT/AMMAN/WASHINGTON (Reuters) - CIA-coordinated military aid for rebels in northwest Syria has been frozen since they came under major Islamist attack last month, rebel sources said, raising doubts about foreign support key to their war against President Bashar al-Assad.
The logo of the U.S. Central Intelligence Agency is shown in the lobby of the CIA headquarters in Langley, Virginia March 3, 2005.
Rebel officials said that no official explanation had been given for the move this month following the jihadist assault, though several said they believed the main objective was to prevent arms and cash falling into Islamist militant hands. But they said they expected the aid freeze to be temporary.
The halt in assistance, which has included salaries, training, ammunition and in some cases guided anti-tank missiles, is a response to jihadist attacks and has nothing to do with U.S. President Donald Trump replacing Barack Obama in January, two U.S. officials familiar with the CIA-led programme said.
The freeze reflects the troubles facing Free Syrian Army (FSA) rebels in the almost six-year-old revolt against Assad, who now appears militarily unassailable in his core western region largely thanks to direct intervention on his side by Russia and Iran.
“The reality is that you have changes in the area, and these changes inevitably have repercussions,” said an official with one of the affected FSA rebel groups. He said no military assistance could “enter at present until matters are organised. There is a new arrangement but nothing has crystallised yet”.
The support funnelled to vetted FSA factions has included contributions from Turkey, Qatar and Saudi Arabia - states that have opposed Assad. It is one of several foreign aid channels to rebels. Others still function.
The CIA declined comment on the reported freeze in support. A Qatari official said his government had nothing to say on the matter. Turkish officials said only they could not discuss “operational details”. There was no word from Saudi Arabia.
Reuters confirmed the freeze with officials from five of the FSA groups that have been recipients of financial and military support from the so-called “MOM operations room”. It was also confirmed by two other senior FSA figures briefed on the matter.
They spoke on condition of anonymity given the covert nature of the CIA-backed programme and the sensitivity of the subject.
Several rebels believed the aid halt was temporary, with new arrangements expected, but there was no clarity yet. Confirming the freeze, two senior FSA sources said donor states were aiming to send the aid to one, unified fighting force - a coherence that has eluded rebels throughout Syria’s civil war.
One of the FSA officials said he did not expect the rebels to be abandoned as they represent the best hope for blocking a further expansion of Sunni jihadist influence in Syria, and to fight back against the growing role of Iran there.
Idlib and nearby areas of Aleppo, Hama and Latakia provinces are among the last footholds of the anti-Assad insurgency in western Syria - the part of the country where he has shored up his rule by holding onto the main cities and the coast.
Islamists have long been seen as the more formidable insurgent force in the northwestern Idlib area though a dozen or more U.S.-vetted FSA groups have also operated there and nearby.
Last month’s militant assault on the FSA groups was launched by a group formerly known as the Nusra Front, al Qaeda’s official affiliate in the war until last year when it formally cut ties and renamed itself Jabhat Fateh al-Sham.
The jihadist onslaught led several FSA groups to merge with the powerful Islamist faction Ahrar al-Sham, widely believed to be backed by Assad’s foreign adversaries in the region.
That will likely give pause to foreign donors: Ahrar al-Sham is set apart from the FSA factions by a strongly Sunni Islamist ideology and it has previously fought alongside the Nusra Front.
Military aid to rebel groups has ebbed and flowed throughout the life of the programme, U.S. officials said, as Washington and its allies have kept a close eye on any leakage to more militant factions, something one official called “a constant problem”.
Before assuming office, Trump suggested he could end support for FSA groups and give priority to the fight against Islamic State (IS), whose well-armed jihadists hold large tracts of eastern and central Syria.
But Trump’s administration has yet to declare a firm policy towards Syria and Iraq, despite his repeated vows to eradicate IS, so it has been “business as usual” with covert and overt training and military support programmes, one U.S. official said.
Some FSA groups hope Trump’s animosity towards Iran could yet result in enhanced U.S. support.
Jihadist forces attacked while FSA envoys attended Russian-backed Syria peace talks in Kazakhstan, accusing the rebels of conspiring with Moscow and Washington against Jabhat Fateh al-Sham. The United States has carried out a deadly series of air strikes against Fateh al-Sham in Idlib this year.
MOM-backed rebels had suffered a heavy blow in December when Syrian government forces ousted them from eastern Aleppo with decisive help from the Russian air force and Iranian-backed militias. Eastern Aleppo had been seen as an FSA stronghold.
An official with an FSA group that has received MOM aid said none came this month “and there are no signals”. Another said a regular meeting of the MOM had been cancelled this month.
“I expect a reorganisation,” he said, adding that there were still around 15,000 combatants with FSA groups in the northwest.
The CIA-backed programme has regulated aid to the rebels after a period of unchecked support early in the war - especially from Gulf states - helped give rise to an array of insurgent groups, many of them strongly Islamist in ideology.
A similar programme continues to operate in southern Syria with Jordanian backing. Some of the FSA groups backed through the MOM in the north continue to receive Turkish support as they participate in the Turkey-led Euphrates Shield offensive against IS and Kurdish groups to the northeast of Aleppo.
FSA groups have long complained that the aid provided falls far short of what they need to confront the better armed Syrian army. Their demands for anti-aircraft missiles have been consistently rebuffed.
U.S. intelligence and military officials said the leakage, sale and capture of U.S.-supplied and other weapons from units of the FSA to Islamic State, the Nusra Front, and other splinter militant groups have been a concern since the CIA and U.S. military began arming and training a limited number of rebels.
From the start, said one of the officials, some U.S.-backed rebels have migrated from groups that were battered by Syrian government forces to others such as IS that were seizing and holding territory at the time. Aid has slowed or stopped in Idlib and nearby areas, officials said, amid fears the pattern may be continuing after rebels lost ground there.
Another U.S. official said FSA groups continue to mount significant challenges to Assad. “Despite the setbacks and no assistance in fighting back against a brutal Russian onslaught, the fact is they remain a viable fighting force,” the official said.
Details about the iPhone 3G have been trickling out slowly ever since the device was announced on Monday, beginning with information on AT&T plans and contracts, and the lack of iTunes activation. There are still plenty of iPhone 3G particulars we haven't heard about, however, including the specifics of upgrades and the launch event, to name a few. To answer a few of these questions, the Boy Genius Report has posted what it claims to be an internal AT&T e-mail about the iPhone 3G, which clears up quite a few of those nagging questions.
There's actually a fair amount of information in the e-mail, so I'll just hit a few of the highlights. First of all, it looks like iTunes activation may not be completely gone after all. According to the e-mail, "in the event that a customer's device is not tethered in the Apple store," customers will need to activate via iTunes. Maybe a small bribe to a store employee will let you avoid the in-store activation. The return policy for the iPhone 3G is being extended to 30 days in both Apple and AT&T stores, and customers will be limited to buying three units, although presumably they'll now have to activate them pretty soon thereafter. In general, there seems to be a lot of confusion over just how activation will work, so I suspect buyers will find ways to take their iPhones home if they so desire.
The $199 price will be for new contracts or "qualified upgrades," but AT&T won't be selling iPhones without a contract. As far as the launch event goes, it will be fairly similar to the launch of the original iPhone, with landlord letters, security, and extra employees. The e-mail also has a lot of information on how AT&T will deal with 2G iPhones until (and after) the iPhone 3G launches, so it's worth a look if you're planning on getting or keeping a new iPhone.
The Volusia County School Board today is expected to decide whether to proceed with plans to renovate the old DeLand Junior High School building for county administrative offices.
Members will be asked to let the staff solicit bids on the remodeling project; the junior high would give the administrative staff more room than its current crowded Stone Street headquarters.
Also on the agenda for today is a report by John Dupree, director of the Volusia County Mental Health Association, on counseling services available for children expelled from school on drug-related charges. Although counseling has been offered by the board as a means to reduce the period of suspension, few students have chosen to enroll in programs. Parents, meanwhile, have complained the expulsion policy is too severe.
The board meeting begins at 9 a.m. in the board room at 230 N. Stone St., DeLand.
Celtic defender Mark Wilson may not play again this season after undergoing knee surgery.
Gordon Strachan told the Evening Times the player "needs a little bit of his cartilage taken off."
It's the latest in a series of injury problems for the former Dundee United full-back, who's only managed 16 games for Celtic this season.
Wilson last played on 18 March in the 1-0 defeat to Falkirk.
And he is certainly ruled out of Saturday's Scottish Cup semi-final with St Johnstone.
Then on Thursdays, Fridays and Saturdays you’ll find some fun local music on stage. On different nights, you’ll hear jazz from Frim Fram Four, a mix of Old World and contemporary music from Classical Revolution, and a fusion of both from Kevin Kirk and Onomatopoeia. Find a schedule at IdahoShakespeare.org. Greenshows start at 7:30 p.m.
• This year you’ll see as many new faces as familiar ones. On the returning path are two notable boomerang apprentices. Katie Willmorth — yes, Tom’s daughter — returns this season as Miranda in “The Tempest” after graduating from New York University’s Tisch School of the Arts.
Willmorth made her debut with the festival in a Greenshow when she was 9. She made her company debut in 2010 in “An Ideal Husband,” and now she comes back to play one of Shakespeare’s most magical heroines.
• You’ve seen Aled Davies on the ISF stage for more than 10 years. He’s always a standout in roles such as Julius Caesar, Oberon in “A Midsummer Night’s Dream” and Falstaff in last season’s “The Merry Wives of Windsor.” Now he will take on one of the epic roles offered in the canon, the tragedy about a king who divides his kingdom among his three daughters and then is driven mad by the fallout.
Davies says taking on a role of this size is intimidating, not just for the literal enormity of the role, but the history that comes with it. Yet, there’s always one good reason to go through the process.
• Director Drew Barr is back after two summers abroad. He directed the Australian and Dutch productions of “War Horse,” the Tony Award-winning drama about a boy and his horse as they journey through and try to survive World War I.
The season opens with “Dial M for Murder,” Frederick Knott’s play about a woman who becomes trapped in a murderous web, which inspired Alfred Hitchcock’s 1954 film. For the past few seasons, Fee has opened with a genre piece, such as last season’s “Deathtrap,” a twisting dark comedy about a murder inside a murder.
The technical challenges for this play are the 10 phone calls that factor into the drama and propel the story forward. And Fee promises a fun device to help tell the story, but he did not want to reveal the surprise. But he did say that for the original play, the telephone was a relatively new technology and a new way to tell a story. He promises that this device will be in the same vein, but more advanced for today’s technologically savvy audience.
Next up, Barr sets his “Tempest” on an “island of the mind.” This is Shakespeare’s last and most magical play, filled with revenge, love, forgiveness and resolution. Prospero, an exiled duke turned magician, wills his enemies to the shores of his deserted island, and finds the right match for his daughter Miranda. Actor David Anthony Smith, known for his larger-than-life presence and penchant for perfect comic timing, takes on the role that also plays to his darker side.
The musical centerpiece is “The Secret Garden,” directed by Victoria Bussert. Based on the classic English children’s book by Frances Hodgson Burnett, it’s the tale of a young girl who loses her family to cholera in India and comes home to England to live at her uncle’s estate. There she finds hope and heals tragedy in a forgotten garden. The production brings back Stephen Mitchell Brown, who played Jean Valjean in last season’s “Les Miserables,” and features the debut of two young performers: Giovanna A. Layne, from Cleveland, and Boise’s Warren Bodily as Colin. The two children also will travel back to Cleveland for the play’s run at Great Lakes Theater.
Power, corruption and tragedy heat up August with Joe Hanreddy’s production of “King Lear.” Hanreddy directed the slick, Armani-esque “King Richard III” in 2013.
The September play is the musical “The Fantasticks,” again directed by Bussert. One of the most popular musicals in history, it tells a story of love, tradition, friendship and magic with beautiful songs such as “Try to Remember” and “Soon Its Gonna Rain.” The company also will perform this show in repertory with Fee’s “Romeo and Juliet” at the festival’s third partner theater, the Lake Tahoe Shakespeare Festival.
Sabrina Wilson did not know she would have to move out of her Brooklyn apartment until she saw the “for sale” sign outside the building.
Mrs. Wilson, whose H.I.V. was diagnosed 18 years ago, had always dreaded the thought of having to find another landlord who would accept her rental subsidy from the city. But this time, because her current landlord faced foreclosure, the sense of urgency landed her in the hospital.
At least 50 H.I.V.-positive renters have complained to city housing organizations in the past months of being forced out or threatened with eviction because of foreclosures. The agencies say they do not know the exact number of families in housing trouble because there is no centralized system for tracking them, but all say that H.I.V.-positive renters are in a particular squeeze.
High rental rates, combined with insufficient public benefits and ineffective antidiscrimination laws, can extend their housing search to a year or more. Unless the landlord is forthcoming, or the bank is diligent in notifying them, tenants may not learn of a foreclosure until they have just a few months to move, putting them in a crisis situation.
For people with children, the most common option is a home or small building in a poor neighborhood, properties that tend to be susceptible to foreclosure. Between 2004 and 2007, foreclosure rates in New York City doubled, with the highest rate of increase seen in two- and three-family buildings, according to a study by the Furman Center for Real Estate and Urban Policy at New York University. Renters in these types of foreclosed houses have little to no defense against eviction, even if they have a lease.
But the problems of H.I.V.-positive tenants begin long before the eviction date, when landlords with nothing else to lose stop paying the utilities.
One such tenant, a 49-year-old woman who asked not to be identified by name because she fears discrimination for being H.I.V. positive, lives in a three-bedroom apartment in Queens with three of her children and two grandchildren.
In June, the woman’s gas, which was included in her rent, was shut off. Then she received a legal document in her mailbox, saying the owners of the building she lived in were facing foreclosure.
When she called the gas company, she said they told her the bill was thousands of dollars overdue.
The woman paid the gas bill for June, July, and August with her Social Security check, leaving only a few hundred dollars to live on each month. Though she is not sure where things stand with her landlord’s foreclosure proceedings, she makes calls almost every day looking for a new place.
For their part, owners and landlords are so preoccupied with trying to renegotiate their mortgage, or having to move themselves, that little energy is left for the tenants.
“It’s beyond my control,” said Femi Adeyeye, one of the owners of the building the woman lives in.
The city’s H.I.V./AIDS Services Administration, known as HASA, provides rental assistance to people with the illness. Though assistance levels are reviewed on an individual basis, the agency pays about $940 for a one-bedroom apartment, not including gas and electricity, $1,069 for a two-bedroom, and $1,348 for a three-bedroom, the same guidelines since 2003. In addition to the HASA benefit, tenants are expected to contribute 30 percent of their income, usually from federal benefits, but cannot be left with less than $330 a month.
Advocates and clients are sure that discrimination is a factor that limits housing options.
The City Council amended the city’s housing code in March, making it illegal for landlords to discriminate against potential tenants who receive federal, state or local housing benefits like Section 8 or HASA. But the amendment applies only to buildings with six units or more, not private homes, and it carries no penalty for those who violate it.
It was months before Mrs. Wilson even looked at a place she could afford. She recently found a three-bedroom apartment in Brooklyn for $900, a big break from the $1,650 she pays now. She has stacks of moving boxes in her current apartment in the hope that her application is chosen from the pile, and that she; her husband, who has been unemployed since October; and two sons will be able to move soon.
The city provides same-day emergency housing to evicted tenants with AIDS who have not been able to find new homes. The temporary solution, a shelter or a single-room occupancy hotel, can become a long-term solution.
A 52-year-old woman, who asked not to be identified by name because her family does not know she is H.I.V. positive, could not find a new place when her landlord went into foreclosure. Her biggest fear was that she, her two daughters and two grandchildren would end up in a shelter.
“They don’t give you your own place, you have to be there at a certain time of day, you have to sleep with one eye open because they steal your property,” she said.
Real estate brokers kept telling her they did not have any three-bedrooms in her price range. Once she found one, it took months before HASA inspected and approved it as medically appropriate, she said. Meanwhile, her old landlord refused to deal with a rodent and cockroach infestation, leaking ceilings and the peeling paint in her grandchildren’s closet.
Crawley Concordia Singers will be joined by four professional soloists and a 21-piece orchestra when they perform Mozart’s Requiem at St Alban’s Church, Gossops Green, Crawley, on Saturday (March 28).
The Requiem, one of the most famous and best-loved choral works in the entire classical repertoire, is part of a double bill, which also includes Haydn’s Nelson Mass.
The concert starts at 7.30pm and tickets, which cost £12, are available on the door or in advance on 07790 863229.
Concordia Singers will be accompanied by the Camerata of London and by soloists Robyn Allegra Parton, Clare McCaldin, Martin Hindmarsh and the up-and-coming South African bass baritone Njabulo Madlala.
Mozart’s Requiem is famous both for the beauty of the music and the story of how it came to be created.
Concordia Singers’ musical director Ian Assersohn said: “The story behind its origin has passed into legend; the mysterious stranger turning up with a bag of money and a commission for a Requiem from an anonymous nobleman.
Ian added: “Haydn’s Nelson Mass also has an intriguing story behind it. Formally known as the Missa in Angustiis (or Mass in Troubled Times), it was written in 1798, a time of great political and financial instability in European history. It received its alternative title of Nelson Mass because the first performance happened to occur on the same day as Nelson’s victory against Napoleon at the Battle of the Nile.
Concordia Singers have been part of Crawley’s musical heritage for more than half a century and they are still going strong. Rehearsals take place every Thursday evening at 7.45pm at Crawley URC, Worth Park Avenue, Pound Hill, RH10 3DF.
Choir publicity officer Donna Oxley said new members were always welcome: “If you enjoy singing, why not come along and try it out for yourself? There is no audition and you won’t be tested in any way.
To find out more about Crawley Concordia Singers visit www.concordiasingers.org.uk, find them on Facebook or call 07790 863229.
The Canjet airline which Stephen Fray attempted to hijack at the Sangster International Airport in Montego Bay in 2009.
Stephen Fray, the Jamaican man who was sentenced to more than 70 years in prison for hijacking a commercial airline at the Sangster International Airport in Montego Bay, St James, nearly a decade ago, is back with his family.
"He is safe and in good hands," his sister, Dominic Fray, told The Gleaner on Monday.
"I am very passionate about mental health," she added.
Dominic Fray declined any further comment, saying that "it would not be in Stephen or the family's best interest" to discuss the support systems that have been put in place for her brother.
But in 2011, Fray, through his attorneys, challenged the conviction and sentence before the Court of Appeal.
The Appeal Court confirmed the conviction but shaved 13 years off the total sentence.
If President Obama has any strategy for a decent exit from Afghanistan, he is certainly keeping it a secret.The latest White House effort to jump-start peace talks with the Taliban in Doha, Qatar, ended in an embarrassing fiasco.
Then, last week, the White House once again floated the idea it would pursue a "zero option" in Afghanistan, meaning Washington would leave no residual force behind after U.S. troops exit in 2014.If this is the new U.S. exit strategy, it is destined to fail.
Some say floating the "zero option" is only a tactic to pressure Afghan President Hamid Karzai to be more cooperative with Washington. Others say the leak reflects Obama's deep desire to wash his hands of the whole Afghan mess, and therefore could actually become American policy.
I asked Ryan Crocker, one of America's premier diplomats and a former ambassador to Afghanistan, what he thought, and his anger was palpable as he responded: "If it's a tactic, it is mindless; if it is a strategy, it is criminal.
"Nothing could encourage the Taliban more. The Pakistanis (who are helping the Taliban) will dig in harder. It will send Karzai in completely the wrong direction.

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